Monday, February 13, 2012

This blog has moved!

Hello All,

It's been time for a change for a long time now. I've just moved to a new web address!

http://pimpernelle.wordpress.com/

Hope to see you there,

much love,

Magali

Monday, February 6, 2012

Anti-Oppression Training

On a whim, I signed up to be a volunteer at the Centre for Women and Trans People at U of T. It happened as I was browsing their website under the guise of an outreach worker.

Shyly, I walked in, poked my head into the big room that is the centre. I had dropped by to sign up as a volunteer in person. There were people scattered about the room, but a cluster were preparing food. The coordinator put down her portobello to stand to greet me, with much kindness in her voice.

My next visit was for the training itself. A weekend crash-course in how-to-NOT-be-oppressive. Oppression, what a loaded word, one that I tend to avoid. It's up there with Colonialism, another key word of the weekend. And finally, paternalism and capitalism. These are inescapable broths for the soup in which we are cooking.

The workshop for volunteers was a wonderful experience to meet others who wanted to strive for social justice. Each, with their own agenda of passion for topics of feminism. Was it the disabilities studies major in the corner? Was it the one who cried out against fat-phobia? Was it the one who wanted recognition that gendered colours for children was ridiculous? It was someone who declared that we each have our privileges, we each have the capacity to be oppressive to others, yet we each also have the capacity, the agency to be compassionate. We also each have the capacity to feel oppression in unique ways, and, notably, to feel oppressed by others stabs much more deeply than it is to inflict it upon others. All wanted to unite for a common goal, to be heard and recognized, yet all were still afraid to speak up, afraid to say the wrong thing. 

We are never perfect. However, we would be foolish not to reflect on how our actions and the actions we are responsible for in groups affect others. There are times to be quiet and times to speak up boldly.

Today, I invite you to say a compliment to a woman you know. She deserves it. And don't let her brush it off,  "oh, it's nothing." It is something, to you.